Rich Beef Stew with Blue Cheese Dumplings

When it comes to easy recipes, it can’t get more simple than a hearty beef stew; not only can it be an incredibly cheap meal to feed a family, it gives you an excuse to whip up some little golden dumplings to pop on top. ULTIMATE comfort food.

I’d never really had stew with dumplings up until I tried my hand at them recently, but oh my goodness, was I missing out or what! These light, butter pillow that have soaked up all the delicious flavours of the stew on one side, and are crisp and golden on the other. You can pop almost any flavour into these, and this time around I went with some sharp blue cheese; not too mild, but not strong enough to overwhelm the meaty ragout underneath. I found one 100g wedge of Mainland Creamy Blue worked perfectly for this, with half going into the dough, then half sprinkled over the dumplings before or after the dumplings have been cooked. Tender pieces of beef, a rich dark sauce flavoured with veges and herbs, paired with some buttery blue cheese dumplings? What more could you want. Pleeeeease give this recipe a try, you won’t regret it!

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees celcius. In a bowl, place the flour and steak. Use your hands or a spoon to toss the beef in the flour.

Heat a cast iron or baking dish on the stove to a medium temperature. Add a generous splash of rice bran oil, bring to temperature, then fry the pieces of steak until golden brown on all sides. Remove from the dish and set aside.

Leave the remaining oil in the pan, and add the onion, carrot, celery and garlic. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until softened slightly, then lower the heat and stir in the tomato paste and worchester sauce, followed by the beef stock.

Add the beef back into the dish, stir to combine, then cover with a lid and place in the oven to cook for 3-4 hours.

When the beef is close to being tender, prepare the dumplings. Place the flour and cold butter into a food processor. Blitz until the butter and flour has formed a sandy texture, and there are no large lumps of butter left. Add the 50g of Creamy Blue cheese and seasoning, blending until the same consistency has been reached.

With the processor running, stream in cold water until a ball of dough forms. Tip out onto a floured bench top, knead lightly to bring the dough together, then roll into evenly sized balls (you should produce around 18-22 dependant on size).

Remove the stew from the oven, then increase the oven temperature to 180 degrees celcius. Stir in 1 cup of water to the stew, then dot each dumpling on top, but do not submerge. Cover with the lid, then bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until golden.